GDC: Q's Utsumi Wants To Continue To Rock

Tetsuya Mizuguchi, COO of Q Entertainment, often frustrates Shuji Utsumi, Q's CEO. In Utsumi's analysis offered at the beginning of the panel, he noted that while Mizuguchi is charismatic, has fantastic vision, and is a great motivator, he doesn't care for discipline or management.

Thankfully, Utsumi is around to keep things manageable in an environment where everyone in the still small company of 60 people is allowed to "rock".

Lumines was Q Entertainment's first product and Mizuguchi's first effort after leaving Sega following the release of the critically acclaimed but commercially underachieving Rez. Spawned from late night discussions at Denny's with the original core five people, it was Utsumi who insisted that they start small and build on the ideas present in Rez's design sensibilities.